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Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Via Daily Dharma: Determination Will Arise
Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Speech: Refraining from Frivolous Speech
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Via White Crane Institute \\ President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the SOCIAL SECURITY ACT of 1965
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| This Day in Gay History | |||
July 30 | |||
 1965 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the SOCIAL SECURITY ACT of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid, which Republicans have sought to undermine, sabotage and eventually undo ever since. Claims that the fund is running out of money are a cover for the looting of the fund that Republicans (and Congress in general) have carried out, beginning with Ronald Reagan who with the help of Alan Greenspan, pulled off one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated against the American people. The Social Security Amendments of 1983 laid the foundation for 30-years of federal embezzlement of Social Security money to use the money to pay for wars, tax cuts and other government programs. The payroll tax hike of 1983 generated a total of $2.7 trillion in surplus Social Security revenue. This surplus revenue was supposed to be saved and invested in marketable U.S. Treasury bonds that would be held in the trust fund until the baby boomers began to retire in about 2010. But not one dime of that money went to Social Security. The mechanism, which allowed the government to transfer $2.7 trillion from the Social Security fund to the general fund over a 30-year period, was the brainchild of President Ronald Reagan and his advisers, especially Alan Greenspan. Greenspan played a key role in convincing Congress and the public to support a hike in the payroll tax. A few years later, Reagan appointed Greenspan to become Chairman of the Federal Reserve System. Since Greenspan’s new job was one of the most coveted positions in Washington, many observers have wondered whether or not this appointment represented, at least in part, payback for the role Greenspan had played in making vast sums of new revenue available to the government. President Reagan and his advisors knew, from the very beginning, that the government would soon face a severe cash shortage. Budget Director, David Stockman, had deliberately rigged the computer at the Office of Management and Budget to generate bogus revenue forecasts in an effort to convince Congress to enact Reagan’s unaffordable proposed tax cuts. When Stockman first fed the data from Reagan’s economic proposals into the computer, he was shocked. The computer forecast that, if Reagan’s proposals were enacted into law, massive budget deficits would loom ahead for as far as the eye could see. Social Security was definitely not “teetering on the edge of bankruptcy” in 1981 as Reagan claimed in his letter to Congressional leaders. The 1983 National Commission on Social Security Reform, headed by Alan Greenspan, issued its “findings and recommendations” in January 1983. The Commission accurately foresaw major problems for Social Security when the baby boomers began to retire in about 2010. But that was nearly two decades down the road. In addition to the long-term problem of the baby boomers, the Commission found a possible short-term problem for the years 1983-89. Nevertheless, Reagan set out to convince a gullible public that Social Security was his chief focus. There is no way that anyone who knew Reagan’s record would accept his claim that Social Security was his highest priority. He had always wanted the program eliminated, or at least privatized. Reagan’s scare tactics worked. Congress passed the Social Security Amendments of 1983, which included a hefty increase in the payroll tax rate. The tax increase was designed to generate large Social Security surpluses for the next 30 years. The public was led to believe that the surplus money would be saved and invested in marketable U.S. Treasury Bonds, which could later be resold to raise cash with which to pay benefits to the boomers. But that didn’t happen. The money was all deposited directly into the general fund and used for non-Social Security purposes. Reagan spent every dime of the surplus Social Security revenue, which came in during his presidency, on general government operations. His successor, George H.W. Bush, used the surplus money as a giant slush fund, and both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush looted and spent all of the Social Security surplus revenue that flowed in during their presidencies. So we can’t blame the whole problem on Reagan. Reagan was the one who figured out a way to use Social Security money as general revenue, and his successors just followed his example. The most recent tax cuts under the Trump Administration continues this subterfuge. If republicans can create enough of a deficit they can lie that "the only way to make up for the deficit" is to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Keep your eye out for this kind of lie. And keep your hand on your wallet. | ||
|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8 Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute "With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989! |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8 |
Via Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation \\ Words of Wisdom - July 30, 2025 💠
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Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Via Alison Elizabeth Marshall blog
Projecting our inner image of God onto the world is something many people do without realising it. What happens is that they read scripture, have mystical experiences of the Divine, listen to what their coreligionists say, and then come up with an image, in their minds, of who God is and what God wants. With that, they set about putting the world to rights, according to their idea of how things should be. They feel certain they know what God wants because it feels right inside of them, so they conclude that it can't be wrong, no matter what.
https://alisonelizabethmarshall.com/projecting-our-inner-image-of-god-onto-the-world/
Via Daily Dharma: Relax and Let It Be
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Via Dhamma Wheel | Right Intention: Cultivating Equanimity
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Via White Crane Institute //
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| This Day in Gay History | |||
July 29 | |||
1953 -
TIM GUNN, born; An American fashion consultant and TV personality, Gunn was chair of fashion design at Parsons New School for Design from August 2000 to March 2007 and is well-known as on-air mentor to designers on the Bravo reality program Project Runway.
Gunn's popularity on Project Runway led to his spin-off show, Bravo's Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, as well as his book A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style.
Gunn’s father was an FBI agent and worked for J. Edgar Hoover as his ghostwriter and general amanuensis. Gunn was visiting his father at his office one day. He tells this wonderful story:
“My sister and I used to take the FBI tour once a year. It was a big deal in D.C., and we never missed it. One year, 1961, when I was eight, I was on the tour and my father asked me if I’d like to meet Vivian Vance. According to Helen Gandy, Hoover’s secretary, Vance was visiting Hoover, and she said she’d be happy to meet us. I was a rabid I Love Lucy fan and was beside myself with excitement… My father smiled and took my sister and me into Hoover’s office, where I shook Vivian Vance’s hand and chatted with her. She was charming and I was thrilled.
Years later, I was reminiscing with my sister about the meeting, and suddenly I realized something. “Does it seem odd to you,” I asked her, “that when we met Vivian Vance in Hoover’s office, Hoover wasn’t there?” I’ve since looked at photos of both Hoover and Vivian Vance from that period of time, and the similarities are rather eerie… I’ve called some Vivian Vance experts, including Rob Edelman and Audrey Kupferberg, who wrote Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy’s Other Couple; none of them knew of any meeting between Vance and Hoover. I was able to check with the scheduler for Mr. Hoover and there is no record of Vivian Vance ever visiting him in their files.”
|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8 Gay Wisdom for Daily Living from White Crane Institute "With the increasing commodification of gay news, views, and culture by powerful corporate interests, having a strong independent voice in our community is all the more important. White Crane is one of the last brave standouts in this bland new world... a triumph over the looming mediocrity of the mainstream Gay world." - Mark Thompson Exploring Gay Wisdom & Culture since 1989! |8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8|O|8 |
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